00:44 - ApothecaryI never saw the appeal of Pallbearer. Ok music, but not worth the enormous praise they've been getting by some. Didn't ever impress me much on album and when I saw them live with Deafheaven I wasn't really won over either

If you're a first time listener, hearing folk metal can be a tad bit intimidating. Trust me, I had my share of questions when I first got into the scene. For instance: What is folk metal? What the heck is a "hurdy-gurdy"? And why do they love the woods so much? Thankfully for me, the first folk metal album I ever listened to front to back was Helvetios, by Eluvietie. This album also happened to flipping rock front to back as well.

Spirit and Slania are decent/good folk-metal albums, about 6,5 - 7/10 for me.
Of course it's not the kind of metal I love, but in the end I can't really dislike them either.
After that it's just the same boring trite formula with generic melodeath stuff and tiresome folkish elements. And, as I mentioned before, even the "experiment" of Evocation is a fairly mediocre work. Methinks.
If I hadn't had to review this *thing* for the webzine where I usually write I wouldn't have cared that much, since I already didn't like Everything Remains at all.

Powerful.. mysterious.. absolutely Eluveitie..!
When i saw that this album contains so many songs my mind immediately brough up the Evocation album which i found it a bit "quite" for eluveitie's standards. But fortunately this album is really strong with the traditional Eluveitie sound and with a diversity at their sound. Nice vocals as always. Looking forward to see them again at their next tour!

Utterly boring. Too generic, uninspired and way too long, didnt manage to listen to the whole thing, maybe they should wait more 5 years and take some time to write something new

That track "Home" anyone noticed that sounds exactly as a song of the first album ? Cant remember which one now....

how can u even rate than with 1..? Thats too biased. u dont just rate it in comparisson with what they had done in the past. Judge it also as if it was their first album. 1 is for rubbish. That is definitely not even close to rubbish

Hmmm, yes... 3 or 4 is more adequate. But I don't know what is more out of reality - if 1 or 9.

Everyone has a strict list of favorite bands for a reason, which for me eluveitie is included, so its a kinda normal for me to like an album of them a lot when it is not too diferent from the previous ones. So yea its 9 by trusting my ears which is also the most common vote for this album if u havent noticed.

Hmmm, yes... 3 or 4 is more adequate. But I don't know what is more out of reality - if 1 or 9.

Everyone has a strict list of favorite bands for a reason, which for me eluveitie is included, so its a kinda normal for me to like an album of them a lot when it is not too diferent from the previous ones. So yea its 9 by trusting my ears which is also the most common vote for this album if u havent noticed.

Yes, I have noticed that... You're right. Unfortunately, Eluveitie are on that strict list of my favourite bands as well. As I said before, Slania and Everything Remains As It Never Was were great albums, really, so my expectations raised up when reading first articles about upcoming Helvetios. However, in the end, this album is a total letdown, I can't help myself.

Good, u have one more reason to have an opinion then. But it really pisses me off when people who dont really listen to some bands and just because they are not into them they have to vote with 1.

My thoughts exactly, Thought Spirit, Slania and Everything Remains were excellent but this is definitely subpar. Not only is alot of the stuff recycled but its also dumbed down. Their metal riffs sound weaker and more generic than ever, Folky elements only occasionally sounding fresh, and the chick definitely has some strong vocal talent but makes the amatuerish mistake of over-dramatizing ever other word.

"Alesia" near perfect example of the flaws i just stated.
"Luxtos" - wtf??? why does korpiklaani have a song on the album??? lol
"A Rose for Epona" i dont mind the occasional pop elements in my metal, but this is too far.
"Havoc" epic folk melodiy, but drop the ball with the garageband sounding riffs.

The rest of the album sounds incredibly generic and/or watered down with only sprinklings of noticable changes and originality.

Utterly boring. Too generic, uninspired and way too long, didnt manage to listen to the whole thing, maybe they should wait more 5 years and take some time to write something new

That track "Home" anyone noticed that sounds exactly as a song of the first album ? Cant remember which one now....

I'd agree with you that the album is in fact a bit too long. 17 tracks is very exhaustive indeed, but the last few eluveitie albums have been of similar length, Maybe if they cut out the minute long interludes and the dreadful songs that are driven by the female singer's voice, then it would be probably more of an 8 or 9 for me. The fact that i gave it a 7 is fully based on the remaining tracks that don't let the album down.

'Meet The Enemy', 'The Uprising' and 'The Siege' starts very fast and loud, and are dominated with harsh vocals and Gothenburg style guitar and drums which kills the folk sounds. Therefore, they sound like average songs, nothing special. Whereas, in songs like 'Helvetios' and 'Uxellodunon', the balance between folk melodies and metal tunes is perfect, and in 'Santonian Shores' too which is the best song so far for me in this album.
Other remarks I wanna make are:
'A Rose For Epona' is a big disappointment; because it has an awesome melody but very bad vocals that do not fit the album in any way.
Prologue and Epilogue is a cool addition, creates the Helvetii atmosphere very well.
I don't agree with the criticism about 'Alesia'. I think it's a decent duet, and female vocals are not very poppish as in 'A Rose For Epona'.
As a last comment: I don't like Eluveitie because they are a kickass metal band, I like them because they could blend awesome celtic folk tunes with the metal I love but they somewhat failed at that in this album. So, it came out to only be a mediocre album.

Not sure why people are flipping out and kicking over chairs because of this album. I think its great. Anna does not have "pop" vocals in any of these songs, even rose for epona. I've never heard ANY pop singer bother to get that kind of range out of her voice. Anna is way too dynamic. Not every female lead has a pop voice. Not to mention she growls on The Siege and sounds amazing.

I'm loving the album. Some of my favorites are: Helvetios, Luxtos, Santonian Shores, A Rose for Epona, The Siege, and Alesia. I love how they're combining the elements from Evocation into the sound that they started with. The album is actually varied as well with lots of unique elements in the songs, which is unusual for an eluveitie album! The only songs I don't really like much are Scorched Earth and Meet The Enemy... the later is the most generic Eluveitie song ever, kinda disappointing that they made a video for it.

First Eluveitie CD I get to listen. In my opinion the album has some good songs, and a few outstanding acts like Helvetios and Meet the Enemy, but in total there are 18 tracks. So there's this abundant instrumental filler, and I'm not really fond of the acoustic numbers either. I don't agree with the bashing I see here, it's quite a pleasant piece of work, but I'm certain it appeals to some more than others.

I just can't put my finger on exactly what I dislike about this release. I absolutely love Slania, its an incredibly solid piece of folk metal, but I feel since then they've lost the special atmosphere they managed to conjure. Part of me feels it because the metal is in itself boring, but even then when I think about it the folk does at times feel a bit dull. Its as if they managed to find a 'generic Eluveitie sound' and accidently water themselves down to the point of ripping themselves off? *ramble ramble*

I dunno, its good yes, but it unfortunately went down the same route as Everything Remains did for me. On the plus side, they haven't got worse live!